There is increasing interest among customers in food products having a reduced fat and reduced calorie content.
Confectionery chocolate compositions generally comprise about 30-60% sugar, 10%-70% chocolate liquor (which contains about 50% cocoa butter), 20%-25% added cocoa butter and about 1% flavor and miscellaneous.
Because of their high fat and sugar content, chocolate confections have a high caloric value per unit weight. There is significant need for chocolate confectionery compositions which have a substantially reduced fat and reduced calorie content and yet which provide the gustatory and physical properties of conventional chocolate confectionery compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,763, Peterson, issued Dec. 14, 1982, discloses certain polyol esters of a-hydroxy fatty acids as food emulsifiers. Among the food products disclosed in this patent is a chocolate confection (Example IX). The patent states at Col 12, lines 1-7, that cocoa butter in such confections can be replaced with a solid nondigestible (i.e., noncaloric) polyol polyester. The patent also discloses sucrose polyesters as preferred nondigestible polyol polyesters.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,411, Wolkstein, issued Dec. 2, 1986, pertains to dietetic frozen desserts (i.e., ice creams). In these compositions, sugar is replaced by a combination of non-caloric sweetener (e.g., aspartame, saccharin, etc.), and a noncaloric carbohydrate bulking agent (to substitute for the bulk normally provided by sugar). The reference also discloses that sucrose polyesters can be used as a substitute for fat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,794, Rennhard, Apr. 8, 1975, discloses certain polyglucoses and polymaltoses which can be used as noncaloric bulking agents to replace sugar and part of the fat in artificially sweetened foods. A chocolate confectionery composition is disclosed in Example XXVII.
The object of the present invention is to provide chocolate confectionery compositions having significantly reduced fat and reduced calorie content.